SCHNEERSON COLLECTION FOCUS OF HELSINKI COMMISSION HEARING

(Washington) – The Chairman of the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), announced that the Commission will hold the following hearing on the efforts of the Chabad community and the U.S. Government to recover the “Schneerson Collection” of sacred and irreplaceable Jewish books and manuscripts from the Russian Government:

Amb. Edward B. O’Donnell, Jr, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, Department of State Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, director of Chabad-Lubavitch on the West Coast, senior executive member of Agudas Chasidei Chabad-Lubavitch and the delegation appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson to secure the return of the Schneerson Collection. Marshall B. Grossman Esq., Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP, attorneys for Agudas Chasidei Chabad-Lubavitch in the effort to recover the Schneerson Collection. Jon Voight, Academy Award-winning actor and advocate for human rights issues. Leon Fuerth, Research Professor of International Affairs at The George Washington University and former national security advisor to Vice President Albert Gore. Rabbi Joseph Wineberg, noted author on Judaism, senior member of Chabad-Lubavitch who survived the bombing of Warsaw with Rabbi Schneerson and preserved parts of the Schneerson Collection. Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, former assistant chief-of-staff to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbe Menachem M. Schneerson, chairman of the international Chabad-Lubavitch social services and educational organizations, senior executive member and secretary for Agudas Chasidei Chabad-Lubavitch.

The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States or a representative has been invited to testify.

A transcript of the hearing will be available on the Helsinki Commission's web site at www.csce.gov within 24 hours of the hearing.

The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent federal agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission, created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives and one official each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.